Dilan Babat 

 

ANKARA - Z.D., who lives in Elmadağ district, was forced to move as a result of the racist attack, she threatened by the mukhtar of the neighborhood named H.K.

 

A racist attack took place on the Kurdish family in Ankara's Elmadağ district on July 28. The family, who was exposed to sexist insults by their neighbors in the attack that took place around 22.30pm on the night of 28 July, had to move their house.

 

Woman named Z.D. spoke to our agency about their experiences.

 

Z.D. said the following about the racist attack they were exposed to: ‘’A few people from the building we just moved to went to the neighborhood where we were attacked before and asked the people in our old neighborhood, ‘What kind of family are they?’ A few people from our old neighborhood said: ‘They are selling heroin’. They went to the real estate agent of the house we just moved to and said: ‘They are selling heroin.’ The real estate agent who rented the house to us said: ‘’If they sell heroin, they have cars, they have houses, they have nothing but two sofas and a fridge.’’

 

Family threatened by mukhtar

 

Due to the reflection of the racist attack they were subjected to in the press, the neighborhood mukhtar H.K., called her at 00:30 on July 31and said: ‘’You called child terrorists, you are in big trouble, you will have great trouble. Z.D. said that he threatened her by saying, ‘’You will be punished, not us,’’ and continued: ‘’The police did not stand by me, when the first attack was made, my son took a knife in his hand to defend himself. But the police stood by the two people who made ‘home invasion’. They did not even go to the police station and take a statement. The state is not on my side, it is on the side of the rich.’’

 

‘Police and guards did nothing’

 

Z.D. stated that two days ago, Elmadağ Police Chief called her and asked for the address of her new home. She continued: ‘’I said to the police chief, ‘I do not trust you, there is no such thing as justice, don't come.’ The police chief said to me, ‘We will find you.’ If a police had not keep my son in the first attack, I or my children would have been killed. Two people come to my house, there are six-seven guards and two polices, but they do nothing. My son wanted to take the knife and defend himself, so they said, ‘Why did you take the knife?’ We had to defend ourselves.’’

 

‘They wanted to take my phone in the room without a camera’

 

Stating that she went to the police station afterward, Z.D. added that she told about the racist attack they were subjected to, that she did not trust the state, and that she also expressed this at the police station. Z.D. stated that at the time of the incident, the racist group’s discourses that the police did not react to statements such as ‘’We don't want the PKK here, go to your hometown’. Z.D. said: ‘’When I was at the police station, three cops put me in a room with no cameras and asked for my phone. While trying to take my phone away from me, I reacted by saying, ‘Kill me, but I will not give my phone away’.

 

‘I was kicked out from social services’

 

Stating that she received 1000 TR aid from social services, but the aid was cut off as a result of the complaints of her neighbors from the neighborhood she moved to, Z.D. said: ‘’I went to social services to ask why the money was cut. I was kicked out from there after being told, ‘You are not crippled, go work, we do not have to take care of you’. Even though I explained my situation, it did not work.’’

Stating that she has no trust to justice, Z.D. applied to the Human Rights Association (IHD) against the second threat she received from the mukhtar.